Matthew 23:13

23:13 “But woe to you, experts in the law ¹  and you Pharisees, hypocrites! ²  You keep locking people out of the kingdom of heaven! ³  For you neither enter nor permit those trying to enter to go in.

Matthew 26:3-4

26:3 Then the chief priests and the elders of the people met together in the palace of the high priest, who was named Caiaphas. 26:4 They ⁴  planned to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him.

Psalms 2:2

2:2 The kings of the earth ⁵  form a united front; ⁶ 

the rulers collaborate ⁷ 

against the Lord and his anointed king. ⁸ 

Mark 15:1

Jesus Brought Before Pilate

15:1 Early in the morning, after forming a plan, the chief priests with the elders and the experts in the law ⁹  and the whole Sanhedrin tied Jesus up, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate. ¹⁰ 

Luke 23:1-2

Jesus Brought Before Pilate

23:1 Then ¹¹  the whole group of them rose up and brought Jesus ¹²  before Pilate. ¹³  23:2 They ¹⁴  began to accuse ¹⁵  him, saying, “We found this man subverting ¹⁶  our nation, forbidding ¹⁷  us to pay the tribute tax ¹⁸  to Caesar ¹⁹  and claiming that he himself is Christ, ²⁰  a king.”

John 18:28

Jesus Brought Before Pilate

18:28 Then they brought Jesus from Caiaphas to the Roman governor’s residence. ²¹  (Now it was very early morning.) ²²  They ²³  did not go into the governor’s residence ²⁴  so they would not be ceremonially defiled, but could eat the Passover meal.

Acts 4:24-28

4:24 When they heard this, they raised their voices to God with one mind ²⁵  and said, “Master of all, ²⁶  you who made the heaven, the earth, ²⁷  the sea, and everything that is in them, 4:25 who said by the Holy Spirit through ²⁸  your servant David our forefather, ²⁹ 

‘Why do the nations ³⁰  rage, ³¹ 

and the peoples plot foolish ³²  things?

4:26 The kings of the earth stood together, ³³ 

and the rulers assembled together,

against the Lord and against his ³⁴  Christ.’ ³⁵ 

4:27 “For indeed both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, assembled together in this city against ³⁶  your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, ³⁷  4:28 to do as much as your power ³⁸  and your plan ³⁹  had decided beforehand ⁴⁰  would happen.

[23:13]  ¹ tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[23:13]  ² tn Grk “Woe to you…because you…” The causal particle ὅτι (Joti) has not been translated here for rhetorical effect (and so throughout this chapter).

[23:13]  ³ tn Grk “because you are closing the kingdom of heaven before people.”

[26:4]  ⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[2:2]  ⁵ sn The expression kings of the earth refers somewhat hyperbolically to the kings who had been conquered by and were subject to the Davidic king.

[2:2]  ⁶ tn Or “take their stand.” The Hebrew imperfect verbal form describes their action as underway.

[2:2]  ⁷ tn Or “conspire together.” The verbal form is a Niphal from יָסַד (yasad). BDB 413-14 s.v. יָסַד defines the verb as “establish, found,” but HALOT 417 s.v. II יסד proposes a homonym meaning “get together, conspire” (an alternate form of סוּד, sud).

[2:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “and against his anointed one.” The Davidic king is the referent (see vv. 6-7).

[15:1]  ⁹ tn Or “and the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 1:22.

[15:1]  ¹⁰ sn The Jews most assuredly wanted to put Jesus to death, but they lacked the authority to do so. For this reason they handed him over to Pilate in hopes of securing a death sentence. The Romans kept close control of the death penalty in conquered territories to prevent it being used to execute Roman sympathizers.

[23:1]  ¹¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[23:1]  ¹² tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[23:1]  ¹³ sn Pilate was the Roman prefect (procurator) in charge of collecting taxes and keeping the peace. His immediate superior was the Roman governor (proconsul) of Syria, although the exact nature of this administrative relationship is unknown. Pilate’s relations with the Jews had been rocky (v. 12). Here he is especially sensitive to them.

[23:2]  ¹⁴ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[23:2]  ¹⁵ sn They began to accuse him. There were three charges: (1) disturbing Jewish peace; (2) fomenting rebellion through advocating not paying taxes (a lie – 20:20-26); and (3) claiming to be a political threat to Rome, by claiming to be a king, an allusion to Jesus’ messianic claims. The second and third charges were a direct challenge to Roman authority. Pilate would be forced to do something about them.

[23:2]  ¹⁶ tn On the use of the term διαστρέφω (diastrefw) here, see L&N 31.71 and 88.264.

[23:2]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “and forbidding.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated to suggest to the English reader that this and the following charge are specifics, while the previous charge was a summary one. See the note on the word “misleading” earlier in this verse.

[23:2]  ¹⁸ tn This was a “poll tax.” L&N 57.182 states this was “a payment made by the people of one nation to another, with the implication that this is a symbol of submission and dependence – ‘tribute tax.’”

[23:2]  ¹⁹ tn Or “to the emperor” (“Caesar” is a title for the Roman emperor).

[23:2]  ²⁰ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[18:28]  ²¹ tn Grk “to the praetorium.”

[18:28]  ²² sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[18:28]  ²³ tn Grk “And they.” The conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has not been translated here in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences.

[18:28]  ²⁴ tn Grk “into the praetorium.”

[4:24]  ²⁵ sn With one mind. Compare Acts 1:14.

[4:24]  ²⁶ tn Or “Lord of all.”

[4:24]  ²⁷ tn Grk “and the earth, and the sea,” but καί (kai) has not been translated before “the earth” and “the sea” since contemporary English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

[4:25]  ²⁸ tn Grk “by the mouth of” (an idiom).

[4:25]  ²⁹ tn Or “ancestor”; Grk “father.”

[4:25]  ³⁰ tn Or “Gentiles.”

[4:25]  ³¹ sn The Greek word translated rage includes not only anger but opposition, both verbal and nonverbal. See L&N 88.185.

[4:25]  ³² tn Or “futile”; traditionally, “vain.”

[4:26]  ³³ tn Traditionally, “The kings of the earth took their stand.”

[4:26]  ³⁴ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[4:26]  ³⁵ sn A quotation from Ps 2:1-2.

[4:27]  ³⁶ sn The application of Ps 2:1-2 is that Jews and Gentiles are opposing Jesus. The surprise of the application is that Jews are now found among the enemies of God’s plan.

[4:27]  ³⁷ sn A wordplay on “Christ,” v. 26, which means “one who has been anointed.”

[4:28]  ³⁸ tn Grk “hand,” here a metaphor for God’s strength or power or authority.

[4:28]  ³⁹ tn Or “purpose,” “will.”

[4:28]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “had predestined.” Since the term “predestine” is something of a technical theological term, not in wide usage in contemporary English, the translation “decide beforehand” was used instead (see L&N 30.84). God’s direction remains as the major theme.